JUDGMENT

R.F. Nariman, J.

The present appeals raise an interesting question under Section 28A of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (SEBI Act), namely, as to whether interest can be recovered on orders of penalty issued under the Act and/or orders of disgorgement of unlawful gains, when the said amounts have remained unpaid. In the penalty cases, it is SEBI who is before us as appellant, whereas in the disgorgement case, it is private individuals who are before us.

2. First, the facts in C.A. 5677 of 2017, the disgorgement case. By an order dated 21.7.2009, passed by a whole-time member of SEBI, the noticees, namely Shri Dushyant N. Dalal and Mrs. Puloma D. Dalal, were found to have manipulated the demand for shares in the retail individual investor category (RII) and thereby distorted the integrity of the market. By doing this, they denied other RIIs of allotment of their legitimate shares in initial public offers (IPOs) of various companies and made an unlawful gain of Rs. 4,05,61,579/- to the detriment of other RIIs. The conclusion, therefore, was that they had employed fraudulent, deceptive and manipulative practices to garner shares meant for RIIs in the aforesa